Where we stayed

The types of places we stayed ran the gamut in terms of Western-style vs Japanese. Some had beds, some had futons. Some had a complete, roomy bathroom in the room, some had toilets and showers and tubs, all in separate rooms, all down the hall. Some - um, one, had chairs in the room. But we always had the two most important things: something comfy to sleep on, and AIR CONDITIONING!!!

We stayed our first two nights, and our last night, in Asakusa, in Toyko. Our first room had a mini, in-the-room bath. Second room was complete Japanese style. In this picture you can see 2/3's of the items in the bathroom. It was only nearly possible to get oneself in the bathroom too.
We next stayed at the Turtle Inn in Nikko. This place had an onsen - hot springs! They had two tubs, both very nice. Outside of the tub was a shower area where you get all cleaned up, and rinsed, before soaking in the tub. Very relaxing. Behind the hotel was the Daiya-gawa river, which made for a nice setting.Those are our sweat soaked shirts hanging up there. There are two Turtle Inns - well one is the annex. The annex looked much nicer than the one we were in - I know this because we were directed to the annex, which was further away, and therefore we had to backtrack with our enormous luggage in tow.Apparently all repeat visitors bring turtles. Alan took this picture in the dining room of dozens of turtles.
Next we stayed in Kyoto for three nights. We stayed at the Ryokan Rakucho, which was my favorite place. This picture shows the typical settup; tatami mat for the floor, futons for beds, pillows to sit on, a low table for tea, etc. No closet, but a cubboard. There were two floors at Rakucho. The second floor, were we were, had guests rooms, a kitchen area (fridge, sink, microwave, toaster oven) and a toilet. The first floor had guest rooms, a kitchen area, washer/dryer, showers, toilets, and a tub. Alan was going to soak in the tub one night, but found it to be extremely hot! I like the fact that we could buy yogurt, fruit, bread for toast for our breakfast, and keep it in the fridge. We were the only Americans in this place, the rest were Europeans. In fact we saw very few Americans while we toured about. Here's the front of Rakucho. The front door was never locked, even though there was a laptop computer right there for customers use.
Our next two nights were in the most Western place we stayed in. We were on the 14th floor, or something like, of a modern building in Hiroshima.Our second to the last night was spent in a hotel near Tokyo station. It was the most expensive place we stayed, and pretty much without charm, or niceties. Location I guess, is everything!